Valid Nutrition to present results of exciting Smallholder Farmers Project in UCC on 6th March 2015.

We will be presenting the results of our pioneering study on the Effectiveness of a Local Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) Value Chain to Combat Acute Malnutrition in Malawi, at an event in University College Cork (UCC) on 6th March 2015.  Sean Sherlock TD, Minister for State for Development, Trade Promotion and North-South Co-operation, will give the opening address.

What is it all about? This study was funded primarily by Irish Aid and carried out in conjunction with UCC and Bunda College Malawi. We undertook a four year livelihood analysis working with poor smallholder farmers in Malawi, looking at their experiences with groundnut production. Since Valid Nutrition began production of RUTF in Malawi in 2005 we have argued that RUTF should be produced locally (rather than shipped in from overseas suppliers) using locally sourced ingredients.

The objective was that through partners and value chain stakeholders we could support these farmers to produce commercial grade groundnuts, thus creating a reliable source of high quality groundnuts suitable for the local production of RUTF and also giving them a steady income.

Programme for UCC-Valid seminar 6 March 2015

Research papers available here